


Alright

by a_mind_at_work (Madame_Marauder)



Series: Beli3ver 'verse [13]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Discussion of school shooting, F/M, M/M, Multi, oof, partially verse relevant but partially irl commentary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 13:22:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13812039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madame_Marauder/pseuds/a_mind_at_work
Summary: The RRA is going to a vote, and Eliza fears the consequences.The NRA has bought out all the votes, and children fear the consequences.





	Alright

     She's in the middle of class when her phone buzzes on her desk. And then the phone sitting on the teacher's desk does as well. Then the guy’s next to her, then the girl’s next to him, and the people in the rows ahead and behind them, phones and computers buzzing and pinging and ringing.

      Her professor glances at her phone, then up at the class, then back to her phone. “Go ahead,” she says quietly, and within a minute the room is filled with quiet swears and exclamations. Eliza checks the notifications from the chat- it's exploding, Thomas and Alexander and John all screaming in caps, Peggy spamming ‘fuck fuck fuck,’ Laf and Herc leaving everyone on read as they watch the chaos unfold in front of them.

       “Shit,” she breathes as the Google news icon finally pops up at the top of her screen. The committee has ignored the outrage of the public. It's going to Congress for a vote.

       A girl in the row behind her shoots out of her seat and slams her hand down on the desk. “They can't do this! There's no excuse! God only knows how long it's going to take for them to pull outspoken reincarnates from their new lives!”

       “There's a precedent for pulling people who could mildly be seen as a threat,” adds someone at the bottom row. “Who's to say they won't follow it?”

       Before any shouting can escalate, the professor calls out, “Class dismissed! We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow.”

       The chat already has a group video call going, and Eliza shoves in her earbuds the second she hits the hallway. “What the hell is going on?”

       “The RRA is going to a vote in Congress,” John snaps off before anyone else can launch into a rant. “Alexander and Thomas are attacking it from both sides in anonymous and Publius posts. I'm pretty sure James is helping with organizing a protest, he's on the phone with Angelica. Peggy may or may not be having an anxiety attack, and the others are nowhere to be seen.”

      Eliza curls her free hand into a fist, feeling her nails dig into her palm. “It's not gonna go through. Tell me it won't go through.”

      “Anything could happen, Liz!” It's Herc, abruptly joining the call. “With this administration? With this past year? We don't even know if the POTUS was fairly elected!”

      Someone else comes barreling into the conversation. “Guys,” Aaron says breathlessly. “They've leaked the full thing. Someone read it in a throwaway committee, it's on public record now. It's just as bad as we thought, but no worse.”

      “Why is it always us?” Lafayette asks quietly. “It's always us.”

      There's a deafening chorus of agreement from everyone else on the call.

      “It allows for arrests for past life crimes, but only in the case of treason or murder, under the laws of the time period, with a reduced penalty, and only if the punishment has not been served,” Alexander shoots off, the clicks of his keyboard audible in the background. “If you fled the country, for instance.”

      Aaron swears in about three different languages. “Well then, I can't wait to go to jail for literally everything ages 50 to death!”

      “Duels were mutually agreed to, making them a verbal contract and waiving any right to press manslaughter charges,” Alexander retorts. “That, we're good on. Your empire… not so much.”

     “It's not going to matter, because  _ it's not going to get passed _ ,”  Eliza adds. “Right?”

     A deafening, heartbreaking silence. “We can do our best,” John says finally. “But Congress has final say.”

     Everyone’s quiet after that, and even Alexander’s typing trails off. “I'm sorry,” he says eventually. “If I hadn't pushed the Electoral College in the first place, we wouldn't be in this mess.”

     “You suggested the Electoral College in hopes that the people in it would have some fucking common sense and element of patriotism in order to be a last resort safety mechanism, Alex,” Thomas corrects. “The point was to  _ avoid  _ this mess.

    A sigh that's hopefully agreement, and then silence. “Hang on, guys,” Alexander says after a moment. His typing has gone silent now, too. “I'm adding someone to the chat, she's got something she wants to say.”

    “Yeah, go ahead,” Laf agrees, and Eliza winces at the dull hopelessness in their voice.

**_AdotHam has added RachelRay_ **

_ AdotHam: mama why is that your user _

_ RachelRay: Because I let my niece help set it up _

_ AdotHam: valid excuse carry on _

_                also folks this is my mama please minimize the dick jokes while she's in the chat _

_ BestofBetsey: !!!!!!!!!! Hello!!!!!!!!! Alexander please explain why this is the first time you've bothered to introduce us!!!!!!!!! _

_  AdotHam: um _

_                   not rn bets _

_  turtlegay: ooooooooohh _

_  AdotHam: u kno what john this is not the time _

_  RachelRay: Actually, @BestofBetsey is right, why is this the first time I'm being introduced to your friends Alex? _

_  AdotHam: … _

_                   mom this isnt twitter you dont need to @ anyone _

_  RachelRay: Alex _

_  AdotHam: ok fine introduce urselves to my mama so we can get to the point alphabetical order cmon _

_  oldestwittiest: Angelica, aka alex’s past sister-in-law _

_  BestofBetsey: hi!!!! I'm Eliza!!!!!! Aka Alexander’s literal past life wife _

_  AndPeggy: and peggy, younger sister of these two memes^ _

_  turtlegay: john laurens/laurence in the place to be! _

_  ActualDisneyPrince: im herc _

_  Lafbaguette: just call me laf _

_                      and um _

_                      they/them _

_  JemJam: James Madison/Matthews! _

_  TankEngine: thomas _

_  BurrSir: ... _

_  AdotHam: ok there (not alphabetical but w/e) mama go _

_  RachelRay: Lovely to meet you all! I assume you're all freaking out about the RRA as as much as alex is? _

_  AndPeggy: understatement _

_  RachelRay: Okay, fair enough _

_                      And _

_                      I don't have all the answers _

_                     But if there's anything I've learned over the years _

_                     It might look like everything’s going to hell, because it is, but that doesn't mean a damn thing anymore. Things have been failing and crumbling and changing since the beginning of time. This isn't new, it's just the newest facet of the same thing that everyone has been fighting over forever. We're going to be alright, no matter what happens. I've heard so much about you all, and I know that you're all incredibly strong people who can absolutely make it through this. _

_  turtlegay: jamdjdns gk _

_  RachelRay: ? _

_  turtlegay: dropped my phone nvm _

_  AdotHam: john everyone cries at mama's Inspirational Speeches its fine just admit it _

_  RachelRay: Thanks, I think _

_  AdotHam: had to get it from somewhere _

_  TankEngine: and theres the alex we know and love _

_  Lafbaguette: 1. Thank you Alexander's mama for the genuinely inspirational pep talk _

  1. _I've had an idea Publius pm me_



_  AdotHam: yeah sure give me a sec _

_                  let me finish this quick _

_  JemJam: Hammmmmmm _

_  AdotHam: hush you _

  
  


     “I'm fucking done,” Alexander spits, tossing the remote back to the couch. John doesn't even bother trying to catch it, too busy staring at the TV in horror. “I'm done. It was a fucking mistake to ever include it. I'm making a Publius post, keep me updated.”

      He storms out of the rec room, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder as he shoves the door out of his way.

     James moves to follow, but John grabs his arm. “Leave him be. You can edit later.”

     “He's-”

     “Always going to feel like shit when kids get shot,” John cuts in. There's something hollow in his tone, not quite a shatterpoint but something oddly close. “He always was in the war, and with the duels, I can't imagine that that's changed. Let him write what he will.”

     Eliza watches silently as James hesitates, but sinks back into the couch. The caption at the bottom of the screen changes from fifteen dead to seventeen, and she feels vaguely ill as she tries to focus on the bite of her nails in her palms and not memories of bright laughter and gap-toothed smiles and bloody coughs.

    John offers her his hand silently, and she takes it, the both of them all but frozen in place as the news anchor sighs and updates them on the latest school shooting.

    Laf walks in at some point, running a hand through their hair as they drop onto the couch. “I thought the point of us getting shot at was that innocents wouldn't be.”

    “One would think, yeah,” John agrees. “Securing the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity and all that.”

     James snorts, and Laf huffs. “Yes, oh Father of the Constitution?”

     “Just how empty it sounds when it's quoted back at me while we're watching the news coverage of a bunch of children dying. Not exactly what I was thinking about when I wrote the damn thing.”

     That gets a nod from everyone. There were so many things they never could have imagined in their past lives, technology and medicine and art- and school shootings. It used to take a minimum fifteen seconds for a professionally trained soldier to load a gun, twenty for someone less experienced, and then they could only fire one shot before reloading. Betsey can cite numbers and statistics for hours- she had been the daughter of a general, had married an aide-de-camp who later became a major general himself, had had brothers march off to war. She knows these things, historically speaking.

     And now dozens could die in seconds.

     “I really regret the phrasing of the second amendment,” James announces quietly. John nods, and Laf attempts a bitter smile, and Eliza just feels herself exhale heavily.

     The others trickle in, getting back from classes of their own or running errands. Herc shows up not long after Laf had, and then Angie, then Aaron and Theo arriving together and cramming themselves onto the couches.

     Nobody says much, even when Thomas arrives in a flurry of shopping bags and frustration. Everyone just kind of sits back and watches the awful scene unfold, unable to do anything else.

     Eliza’s relatively sure she understands why Alexander left, now; this horrible, numb silence is a hair too close to familiarity, and the children on TV are either angry and determined or weeping in loss. Once more, it's a too-recognizable sight that grates at her. It doesn't take too long until she's shakily standing up and heading after Alexander. John follows, looking a little pale himself.

    They hold hands on the way to the boys’ dorm room, only letting go to let him unlock the door. It's quiet, again, and it makes her want to hit something.

    “I'm so tired of having to watch shit like this happen,” Alexander is saying, and the answering sigh comes from Peggy.

    “Join the club, Ham. They're a year younger than I am.”

    He swears softly, like he's only now realizing that the kids in the shooting were that much younger, that the littlest was five years younger than Philip had been. Peggy throws a half-folded paper star at him, and he flicks it back towards her as John opens the door.

     “Five years younger than Philip,” Eliza says aloud after a moment, because she's done the math earlier but  _ holy hell _ , and she joins the two on the edge of the bed. Alexander's face crumples, and Peggy winces, and she leans into them, resting her head on Alexander's shoulder and tugging her sister into a one-armed hug. John finds a place on Alexander's other side, and they're all quiet for a moment.

     But Peggy pulls away after a bit and fiddles with the partially made star in her hands. “You've gotta support them if they finally fight for gun control, Alex. But you can't talk over them.”

     “I know,” he says softly, catching John’s hand in his own. “And we will.”

     And there's not much else to say, but so very much now to do.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah this is political but you know what, if this is how the message gets out there then so be it. Students are living in fear and feel helpless and if I can change that trapped feeling even temporarily for at least one person with fanfiction about long-dead politicians then I absolutely will.
> 
> My tumblr: @discount-satan  
> Writing, minimally political tumblr: @littlelionroar


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